This book is designed to serve as a text for engineering students. It introduces the fundamental knowledge used in robotics. This knowledge can be utilized to develop computer programs for analyzing the kinematics, dynamics, and control of robotic systems. The subject of robotics may appear overdosed by the number of available texts because the field has been growing rapidly since 1970. However, the topic remains alive with modern developments, which are closely related to the classical material. It is evident that no single text can cover the vast scope of classical and modern materials in robotics. Thus the demand for new books arises because the field continues to progress. Another factor is the trend toward analytical unification of kinematics, dynamics, and control. Classical kinematics and dynamics of robots has its roots in the work of great scientists of the past four centuries who established the methodology and understanding of the behavior of dynamic systems. The development ofdynamic science, since the beginning of the twentieth century, has moved toward analysis of controllable man-made systems. Therefore, merging the kinematics and dynamics with control theory is the expected development for robotic analysis. The other important development is the fast growing capability of ac curate and rapid numerical calculations, along with intelligent computer programming.
